""Molwi Ahmed Raza Khan quotes a statement, which he alleges is from Mawlana Nanotwi's book Tahdhir Al-Naas. According to Molwi Ahmed Raza Khan's quote, the respected Mawlana Nanotwi denied the finality of the Messenger of Allah's prophet hood (khatm-e-nubuwwat). In reality this statement does not appear anywhere in Mawlana Nanotwi's book. On rigorous analysis of the book, it comes to light – as has been shown by many Ulamah in many of their books (all generally in Urdu) – that the statement that Molvi Ahmed Raza Khan quoted had been concocted from three different passages from three different pages of Tahdhir Al-Naas. These texts had been rearranged to give a meaning that Molvi Ahemd Raza Khan then used to level charges of infidelity (takfir) against the founder of Darul Uloom Deoband – Subhanallah.

The question remains whether this could be condoned as a "mistake," a "mistranslation" or a "misinterpretation"? Could such a blatant mistake stem from the author of a book like Al-Dawla Al-Makkiyya Bi Al-Madda Al-Ghaybiyya?"

REPLY

There are two issues involved here:

1) Imam Ahmed Raza khan Al Barelwi (Rh) selected passages from different part of the book and as per Deobandis if those passages are taken individually, they will not constitute Kufr.

2) The Athar of Sayyeduna Ibn Abbas (Rd).

In the above artcile , the learned scholar has accepted that he has not read Tahdhir Al-Naas by Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee. The author claims to have read biogrpahy of Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee.

The Atahr of Sayyeduna Ibn Abbas ( Rd) will be taken later , when in , more than 20 reference will be give on that topic. Alhamdulillah the scholars of Ahlus sunnah have refuted this belief of probability of another prophet coming after prophet Mohammed ( sal allahu alay hi wa sallam). It should be kept in mind that word of Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee has a starement " agar bil farz yeh maan liya jaye.....' ( if we accept this...). Insha Allah from the rules of Ilmul Kalam also this narration of Mawlana Qasim will be analysed.

But right now , here is the refutation to the accusation in point (1) above.

This is what Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee said

“The common folk, the general populace thinks that the meaning of the saying‘Rasulullah sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam is the Seal’ means that his time is after the time ofthe earlier prophets and that he is the last of all the prophets. However, people ofUnderstanding/wisdom/knowledge, know that there is no specialty in being earlier or later. After all how can Quran say “ wa la kin rasul allahi wa khataman nabiyyin” in praise of prophet being the last prophet?

THE VERY NEXT LINE ( and not some other part of book , as they lie)

“ If people do not consider this station ( of being the last prophet) as something praiseworthy then it can be said that the ‘khatmiyat” with regard to later time ( takheer zamaney) might be correct ‘.

(He uses the word of chance “ho saktee hai’ which means, a chance and a possibility but not something sure)

Same paragraph, 2 lines later

“If prophet ( sal allahu alayhi wa sallam ) is accepted as the last nabi and this station ( of being the last prophet) is considered as something praiseworthy , then this will give a meaning of USELESS TALK from Allah “

Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee has denied the finality of the prophet hood in a very clear way. This is not the combination of ‘ different passages’ from different pages. This is the first and second paragraph in Mawlana Qasim nanotvee;s answer.

See denial of finality of prophet hood in these passages.

1. The meaning of ‘ khatmun nabiyyin” which has been clearly narrated in hadith , and the ijma of all the muslims , is that Prophet is the last prophet. Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee says this is the belief of “general population ‘(those who do not have understanding of Religious issues). So all these scholars of Islam did not have understanding of the meaning of Khatamun nabiyyin and 1300 yrs after prophet , Mawlan Qasim has understood it !

2 The entire ummah lacks understanding and wisdom ( as the whole muslim ummah is united on one meaning).

The prophet ( sal allahu alai hi wa sallam) is among the “ normal people” who did not have the understanding of this word” khatamun nabiyyin”,( Astagfirullah) because prophet himself explained “khatamun nabiyyin” as LAST prophet.

3.Not to consider this station of “last prophet” as a special position. The fact is this has been accepted as a special position by the Ijma of all the muslims ,( from the time of prophet).

4.If some one considers prophet being the ‘last prophet’ as a special position then as per Mawlan Nanotvee this will mean Allah did uses less talk ( astagfirullah).

( Mawlana is here referring to the verse “wa la kin rasul allahi wa khataman nabiyyin”, as he said , this does not mean any special position)

Do I still need to show how clearly Mawlana Nanotvee has denied the finality of prophet hood?

There is one and ONLY ONE meaning of ‘ khatamun nabiyyin”. There is no room for any other explaination of that term.

Urdu readers can buy this book” Tadhir al nass” containing these ugly quotes. Please buy old edition , as in the new edition published from Deoband , they have added foot notes to these ugly statements. The original version written by Mawlana Qasim never had any footnotes.

I once had a debate with a Qadyani scholar . The qadyanis have a ‘special meaning to Khatamun nabiyyin” They say , the prophet ( sal allahu alaihi wa sallam) is the last prophet to have “ seal of authority” , meaning , all those prophet who will come in future will have the approval from prophet mophammed ( sal allahu alaihi wa sallam). So I asked , how are qadyanis so sure that there Mirza Qadyan is the last prophet ( as per them) and no more prophet will come after him? So many times we hear that so and so has announced his / her prophethood? On which basis Qadyanis make up a rule that after Ghulam Ahmed no other (false) prophet will come?

The Qadyani scholar remained silent for a while and then said” we do not deny the chances of coming of more prophets in future”

Now let us analyze the second ugly statement from the same book, but from a different page. there is no need to combine these passages to give the meaning.

Mawlana Qasim says“

Suppose if there is a prophet born ever after the time of Rasulullah sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam, there shall be no difference in his being the Seal . So it wouldn’t make any difference if there is a prophet in his own time on a different planet, or even on this veryplanet.”

This is the true Deobandi belief which was first given by their fore father Mawlana Ismaeel Dehalvee.

He said “The glory of that King is such that He can create a billion prophets, awliya, jinns, angels, Muhammad and Jibril in a single moment with just a ‘kun’ [the command ‘Be.’](Taqwiyatu’l Iman, pg.37)

(Allama Fazle Haq Khairabadi, student of Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dihlawi, refuted this idea proving it was against the Shari’ah. He wrote that according to the absolute proofs of the Qur’an and hadith, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam is the last and final Prophet, there can be no other Prophet or Messenger after him. Conceiving another like the Prophet Muhammad is now an impossibility and from those aspects which is an impossibility according to the Shari’ah. To believe that there can be another Muhammad would necessitate that Allah did something apart from what He has stated in the Qur’an, that is, that Allah ta`ala has lied. Lying is a flaw and it is impossible for Allah to have a flaw. For a detailed discussion on the matter, refer to ‘Allama Fazle Haq Khairabadi’s Tahqeeq al-Fatwa fi Ibtal al-Taghwa. The book has many proofs concerning the matter of ‘possibility of lying by Allah ta`ala’ and ‘Impossibility of another Muhammad to exist’ [Imkan-e-Kizb and Imkan-e-Nazeer-e-Muhammadi.])

( My personal study of Deobandi aqidah is that one can locate all these objectionable statement and belief of Deobandis in “ Taqwiyatul Iman’ the book written by their fore father , Ismaeel Dehalvee, whom they call “ shaheed’( martyred). That is another interesting story ! Insha Allah , that will be quoted in future , from Deobandi book itself!)

Any muslim can see, that had Mawlana Nanotvee aceepted the meaning of “khatamun nabyyin’ which is PROPHET MOHAMMED ( sal allahu alaihi wa sallam) is the LAST AND FINAL prophet, he would have not talked of possibility/probability of “ new prophets coming in future”.

“The meaning of Khatam al-Nabiyyin according to those who look at literal meanings is that the time of the Prophethood of Muhammad is after the time of the Prophethood of all other Prophets and that no other Prophet can come afterwards. However, you know thatthis is something in which there is neither praise nor any harm.”

After hassmal harmayn was accepted by the scholars of Makkah and Medina , the Deobandis were in a state of shock. They were clueless as to what to do next? In an attempt to confuse the masses they said that Imam Ahmed Raza Khan Rh has wrongly translated the original statements of Deobandi scholars from Urdu into Arabic and so the scholars of Makkah and Medina did not know the true matter!.

This is something which is a white lie. The great scholar of Ahlus sunnah Mufti Hashmat Ali khan ( rh), sent this fatwa of hassamul harmayn to all the scholars of Indian subcontinent of that time ( India , Pakistan and Bangladesh being one at that time) . Two hundred and sixty eight ( 268) leading Muftis of Indian subcontinent of that time issued the fatwa on these 5 personalities. ( Mawlana Mirza qadyani , Mawlana Rashid Ahmed , Mawlana Khaleel Ahmed , Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee and Mawlana Asharf ali thanvee).

It should be noted that these 268 muftis were all leading muftis from the madarsa of Firang mahal , Rampur , Hyderabad ( deccan) , Sindh , Lahore. Agra , Surat etc. He published those fatwa under the name of ‘ As sawahir rul Hindiya ‘. The book is easily available in the market . Does our learned author means that these scholars who were expert in Urdu , Arabic and Persian , got confused with “ urdu wordings” like the Arabian scholar? Deobandis can close their eye and be happy with this ‘ assumption”!.

The Deobandi author has said that Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee never denied the finality of the messenger of Allah’s prophet hood ( khatm e nubuwwat) and that Imam Ahmed Raza Khan “concocted” quotes from three different pages of the book Tahdhir al naas, to make a claim that Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee denied the finality of prophet hood.

What the learned Deobandi author is saying is that when three different statements are taken and put together, it is only then be said that Mawlana Qasim denied the finality of prophet hood and when taken individually it does not give any such meaning.

Meaning of Khatamun Nabiyyin

Sayeduna Ibn Abbas rd narrates that Allah ta’ala revealed that there will be no nabi after prophet ( alahissalam) so prophet did not have any son (who survived).

Khatamun nabi’in - It means Allah has made prophet as the seal of prophet hood and there will be no nabi after him or during his life time. And Allah is all knowing – meaning He knows that there will be no Nabi after prophet ( alaihis salam) ( Tafsir Khazin , Egypt , vol 5 page 218)

Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon hlmg) said: I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning; I have been helped by terror (in the hearts of enemies): spoils have been made lawful to me: the earth has been made for me clean and a place of worship; I have been sent to all mankind and the line of prophets is closed with me. (Muslim)

Narrated Jubair bin Mutim: Allah's Apostle said, "I have five names: I am Muhammad and Ahmad; I am Al-Mahi through whom Allah will eliminate infidelity; I am Al-Hashir who will be the first to be resurrected, the people being resurrected there after; and I am also Al-'Aqib (i.e. There will be no prophet after me)." ( Bukhari)

There will be thirty liars in my Ummah, each of them claiming to be a Prophet, but I am the Khatam-un-Nabiyeen, there is no Prophet after me." (Sunan Abu Daud, Kitab al-Fitan)

Holy Prophet SAAW used the word Khatam-un-Nabiyeen for Himself and then qualified the meaning of this word by adding that "there is no Prophet after me." Most certainly He knew that there will be some sick minded people in his ummah who will make all sorts of far flung distorted meanings

Peer Karam Shah Azhari(rh) and Tahdhir al nas

Peer Karam Shah Azhari(rh) said in 1964 that , he has found no fault in Tadhir al nass of qasim nanotvee.

In October 1986, in the monthly magazine , Ziya -e Haram on page 49 , he chnaged his view and said I totally agree with Hassamul harmayn and take back my view which i had before.Later Peer Karam Shah wrote a book on this " Tadheer al nass meri nazar mein" ( Tadhir al nass in my view)

Deobandis might find this amusing that their most well veresed scholar of Barelwi-deobandi issue , Janab Khalid Mahmood has already written this in his PhD RESERACH that , peer karam shah azhari chnaged has view. This is what Mahmood al deobandi writes

" Peer Karam shah azhari gave his opinion in support of tadhir al nass ...... But it is of great pain that peer Karam shah could not stick to his stand and later chnaged his stance on this . Due to his murreds he too had to be with barelwis".

After reading this book , no deobandi would even think of naming Allama Sayed Kazmi (rh) in this topic.

I could not share what Allama Kazmi (rh) has written about Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee, because takfiri quotes are not allowed as per forum rules.

Every one who is interested in this Barewli -deobandi issue should not only read this book of Aallama Kazmi (rh) but other well researched books available on that website.

Arabic reading brothers can read last chapter of his boook" gustakhe rasool ke saza " ( punishmnet of those who show disrespect to prophet). Allama Sayed Kazmi (rh) has quoted the views of more than 20 salaf as saliheen on this topic. All quotes are in Arabic.

Regaeding , this issue of Tadhir al nass , before I post the analysis of athar of Ibn Abbas (rd) , I would scan the quotes of TOP DEOBANDI scholars on this book.

Hope that will be accepted by our deobandi brotrhers. Insha Allah I will start with TOP DEOBANDI leader , Haji Imdadullah Muhajir makki (rh) and his view on this book of mawlana Qasim Nanotvee. It would be followed by other"AKABIR" of Deoband who have written" superb" comments about this book of Mawlana Qasim Nanotvee.